Top loyalist Ihab Shoukri is denied bail

Staff Reporter

LOYALIST Ihab Shoukri was refused bail in the High Court yesterday after a judge said he was satisfied he was a leading member of the UDA when he attended a rehearsal for a show of strength in a bar last March.

LOYALIST Ihab Shoukri was refused bail in the High Court yesterday after a judge said he was satisfied he was a leading member of the UDA when he attended a rehearsal for a show of strength in a bar last March.

LOYALIST Ihab Shoukri was refused bail in the High Court yesterday after a judge said he was satisfied he was a leading member of the UDA when he attended a rehearsal for a show of strength in a bar last March.

Lord Justice Nicholson said the UDA was notorious for criminal activity of all sorts and he was concerned that if Shoukri was granted bail he would be a danger to the community and there would be public disorder.

The judge was satisfied by the evidence of a handwriting expert that Shoukri had written a statement due to have been read out in the Alexandra Bar the night after police raided it.

Shoukri, aged 32, is denying charges of membership of the UDA/UFF and professing membership of the organisation.